Lost
by PurpleHiraikotsuRider
Summary: A moment in Sesshoumaru's childhood showing why he hates humans so much. One-shot


**I don't own Inuyasha. **This was written as a little insight to Sesshoumaru's childhood, and why he hates humans so much. In this, he is aged seven. I find it really difficult to envision him as a child, but I wanted to write something about his days when he _wasn't_ a powerful killing machine, so here goes. I'll do my best to keep him in character (and probably fail).

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"You poor thing!" the old woman cried, ushering the injured child into her home.

Sesshoumaru did not especially like those particular adjectives being used in reference to himself, the son of the lord of the western lands, but all things considered, he didn't really care enough to correct the human at the moment. He was cold, tired, soaked, hungry, injured lost, and, worst of all, muddy.

"What happened to you?" the woman despaired, fetching a rag to wipe mud from his face and hands. She did it herself, despite the fact that he was capable. He figured human children of seven were incompetent of cleansing themselves.

"I was in the forest near my home when I fell in the river," he explained stiffly in his child's voice, not particularly liking a strange woman touching his face even if it _was_ making him cleaner. "I was washed downstream to a strange part of the forest and wandered through it trying to find my home, but I couldn't."

His stomach grumbled loudly.

"How long ago was this?"

"I left home when the moon was full."

She gasped in horror. "An entire cycle ago! You must be starved!" She rubbed the magenta markings on his cheeks viciously, thinking they were stains. He jerked his head away and touched them. They may not be very prominent yet, but they definitely _weren't_ coming off.

She understood. "Oh, they're demon markings?"

Sesshoumaru nodded.

She got to her feet. "Stay right there; I'll have a bath ready for you in a moment."

His golden eyes followed her as she took a bucket of water from above the coals in the midst of the hut. Emptying it into a small bathtub, she beckoned for him to come over. He did so, his bare feet sinking into the dirt floor as he crossed it.

"I'm afraid it's not hot," she said apologetically. "But I'm sure it's better than ice-cold."

As she helped him out of his mud-crusted clothes, she asked, "What is your name, child?"

Eyeing her unblinkingly, he said, "In the courts of my home, it is considered a lack of decorum when you defer to give your own name when asking someone else's."

The old woman laughed at his grand speech. "My apologies, small one. In this village we have very little propriety to speak for. My name is Mana."

Now unclothed, he got into the tub of lukewarm water. "I am Sesshoumaru," he said.

Mana smiled at him. "That's a very refined name," she replied, getting up and going back to the coals, setting some rice on top of them. "Now you get cleaned up while I cook you some food."

The thought of hot, moist rice made his empty stomach want to turn inside out. "I don't eat human food," he said.

"Oh? And what would you eat, then?"

"Do you have any meat? Uncooked?"

She looked downcast. "I don't, that. As it's the end of winter, what meat the villagers use is salted and kept in the storehouses, in the middle of town. We're each given a very little each quarter moon, but I have none left and will get none for another two days."

Sesshoumaru sighed, disappointed. "Anything raw will do." Holding his breath he dunked his head underwater. After she had been kind enough to give him shelter, clean him and feed him, it wouldn't be very gracious of him to eat _her_… Besides, she was old so she wouldn't taste very good. Maybe after he would sneak into the village and hunt down someone younger.

Mana laughed as he resurfaced. "You have mud crusted in your hair," she chuckled, going over to him again. "Let me…"

He allowed her to assist in washing his stained locks.

"You have such beautiful hair, Sesshoumaru-kun," she murmured, running her hands through it. "And it's so long…"

He blinked; his hair wasn't long. True, it went past his shoulders, but just barely. His _father_ had long hair; _his_ reached his knees. And that was when it was _tied back_.

"Now, let's get you dried." Mana handed him a clean rag, and he quickly dried himself as she gave him some clean clothes. "I have a great-grandson your age. I was making these for him, but I think they would be better suited if you used them while I clean your clothes."

He bowed his head. "You have my thanks." His stomach grumbled again. _She is not food_, he chanted to himself. _She is not food, but help. Help, not food_. He tried not to breathe in her scent as she bound his injured shin.

"Come and sit down," she invited, gathering some raw vegetables on a clay plate and handing it to him. "Again, I am sorry I cannot offer you meat."

"Your effort is appreciated," he replied, stuffing the food in his mouth and barely chewing before swallowing it.

Mana laughed lightly. "Aren't you a little prince, Sesshoumaru-kun."

_Of course I am. I'm the heir to the western lands_.

"Now," she said when he finished eating. "What are we going to do with you?"

He blinked, surprised. "Once I have my clothes back, I will continue searching for my home. My parents should be out looking for me, and perhaps I will catch their scents."

She looked doubtful. "Oh, but I couldn't let a child go running around the forest alone. Especially since you're hurt."

"I will be fine. Most demons know not to touch me."

She wasn't convinced. "Well, at least wait until your leg has healed."

He didn't see the harm in that; it wasn't a deep cut, and it should be back to normal in about a week. And when it was healed he could travel properly in his true form, then he would be able to move faster.

"Agreed," he nodded.

An old man walked into the hut and gasped when he saw the two of them. "Demon!" he brandished his walking stick as if it were a weapon.

"Now, husband, let me explain," Mana said carefully, getting up and going over to him.

"Explain why there's a demon child in my home! Yes, I think you had better."

She pulled him outside and told him in whispers what had happened. Of course, Sesshoumaru could hear every word with perfect clarity. Mana's husband did not have pleasant things to say about him staying for an undefined period.

"But he's hurt! And lost!" the woman pleaded.

"Mana, I won't have demon spawn in my home for _any_ time! Especially a lost one; its parents will probably come looking for it and put the whole village in danger! I'm going to get the exorcist." He took a step away.

She caught his arm. "Please, husband! Just for a few days! He's injured and can't walk properly!"

"I don't care! By the time the exorcist is through with him, he won't be able to walk _at all_!"

Sesshoumaru stiffened as he heard those words. What was he going to do? At home if anyone said anything against him he would tell his father and the person would be punished severely. But here… his father wasn't close by, and Mana was only an old woman. She couldn't truly protect him.

_Chichi-ue, Haha-ue, please find me. I want to go home!_

In a few minutes the noise of a crowd reached his ears. He peeked outside the hut and to his horror saw a mob of humans with pitchforks and any other weapons they could get their hands on. Mana and her husband were at the front. He left the hut and took a step toward her, but she shook her head sorrowfully.

Sesshoumaru reached his hand into the air, shock filling his face. A pain seared across his upper arm and he looked down to see blood run out of a horizontal cut. Looking back at the humans he saw some of the men bend down and pick up more rocks. The stones zipped through the air toward him. He looked again at Mana as she stood helplessly nearby, watching.

_You were… supposed to help me…_ his lips tried to form words but failed as it began to rain. He knew one woman couldn't hope to defeat a village of men, but she wasn't supposed to just stand back and let them do what they wanted! What was wrong with these humans? Was their whole race like this?

Turning, he stumblingly tried to run into the forest. But his leg hurt, and rocks kept hitting him. They weren't small, either; about half the size of a head. He slipped in the mud and skidded down a slope, landing with his legs painfully spread apart.

_Itai… Haha-ue, tasukete!_

One stone grazed his head, and he whimpered in pain as another landed in the mud, splashing dirt all over him. He viciously blinked away the tears that had formed in his eyes as he scrambled to his feet again. A villager caught up with him and caught the side of his skull on a shovel.

_Itai!_

A loud howl sounded in the distance. Sesshoumaru's ears perked up, suddenly full of hope. He knew that roar!

_Haha-ue!_

The man dropped his weapon in shock as a huge dog the height of thirty horses launched itself out of the forest and landed nimbly just beside the village. Sesshoumaru joyfully ran towards her and hid behind one of her white front legs.

The dog glowed brightly and reverted back to human form. The villagers watched in shock as the beautiful woman picked up her child and embraced him, uncaring that the mud stained her perfectly spotless clothes.

She turned to the humans with hate in her eyes.

"How dare you," she said. "How _dare_ you attempt to injure a mere child! How dare you harm the future lord of the west! I would have you pay with your lives, but I must hurry and return him home. You had better pray his father does not pass through, or you all will die!"

Turning, she leapt into the skies, child in arms, and vanished from sight.

Sesshoumaru cuddled closer to his mother, tightening his grip as they flew through the rain. "Haha-ue, do you think Chichi-ue will find them?" he asked softly.

"The chances are high," she replied in the same quiet tone. "We were doing a circuit to look for you. Shh, now. Go to sleep."

In a slumber-induced voice, he said, "Haha-ue, I don't think I like humans very much. They don't have very high standards."

As her hand caressing his muddy hair she held him closer to her, glad her precious son was no longer missing.

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And that's it! Review please; constructive criticism welcomed. Just don't chew me out about the ending; I know it wasn't done very well. But good endings are so hard to come by!


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